Friday, 27 June 2014

On my
mission to spend quality time with Beloved Aspie (BA), yesterday’s beautiful
sunshine took us to Hestercombe House and Gardens in a glorious corner of
Somerset. The finale of the visit was a look around the Gallery. (That’s a lie
– the finale was a mega chocolate brownie in the caff before going home).

Anyway…you
need to know that I have been an Art student, studying Fine Art and Art
History, and almost went to Art College instead of University and Law. As such,
I can find an appreciation for most things though I own my own tastes.

And in
fairness, BA has his own posters and prints that he likes, though they are
highly likely to involve Dr Who, Superheroes, or cats, and he has a keen eye
for sparkly gems.

Off we go to
the Gallery rooms, BA dutifully appraising the catalogue notes and locating the
exhibits. One was a fairly chunky bronze of a pair of binoculars; another was a
wooden stile painted bright blue; another was a spade, hanging on a wall, made
of beautiful wood; another a swarm of bees masquerading as a mantel piece
clock. In a separate room was Tracey Emin’s ‘there is another place’, a neon
tube of writing on the wall.

BA was impressively discreet about his misgivings.

We embarked
on a conversation with the volunteer invigilator who told us this was their first
‘modern’ exhibition and as such, she’d had to do a lot of research so that she
could talk to visitors, who had some interesting comments. This led to a
discussion of conceptual art.

The problem
for me, I told her, is that some of the finished pieces are so far removed from
the original concept that they are not, of themselves, interesting or beautiful
to look at. I fail to see the point if the object offers no attraction and I
have to read an essay about its meaning.

Then it got
me thinking. If I applied the same idea to writing novels, how would that work?

I could
spend my months in advance doing copious research, writing up notes, creating
my characters, mulling over the plot in my head, then, when it’s ready I could
write my novel in 4 words

…but I love
you

And leave
the reader to work out the rest.

Never mind
flash fiction or the 50 word story – let’s unleash a new form – the conceptual
novel. I’m sure I could write a few of those, in fact I’m just working on ‘The’.